BYU and the LDS Church History Library are hosting a conference this Thursday and Friday entitled, “Beyond Biography: Sources in Context for Mormon Women’s History.” The conference looks to be a major step forward for Mormon history by engaging Mormon Women’s history through a number of methodologies. There is no registration fee–if you’re in Utah you will want to be at the BYU or LDS Conference Center!
R. Marie Griffith and Julie B. Beck will deliver the plenary addresses.
JI-er presentations can be found below. You can view the rest of the schedule here.
Another announcement from our friends at the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah:
The Marlin K. Jensen Scholar and Artist in Residence Program
Program Launch: Spring, 2017.
The Tanner Humanities Center on the University of Utah is proud to announce a fellowship in the name of Marlin K. Jensen. Our Marlin K. Jensen Scholar and Artist in Residence Program will host prominent scholars with expertise in Mormon Studies or renowned artists who explore the relationship between faith and art in their work.
Marlin Keith Jensen was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving as the official Church Historian and Recorder from 2005 to 2012. During his tenure, Jensen worked to professionalize the Church’s History Department, give it international range, make its holdings more accessible to researchers, and publish primary materials. Jensen was made an emeritus general authority in 2012. Currently, he practices law in Salt Lake City and is a member of the Utah State Board of Regents.
The fellowship will consist of a semester-long residency. Each scholar will:
Teach a class for University of Utah students
Serve as a research or artistic mentor
Offer public lectures or performances
Contribute to Mormon Studies curriculum planning and program development
Nominees are asked to submit:
A CV
A one page course description for a Mormon Studies class
The names of two recommenders
Please submit the above by April 15, 2016.
The successful candidate will have an office in the Tanner Humanities Center and be part of the Center’s fellow community. In addition, the position offers an honorarium of $50,000.
Please send your application material to Bob Goldberg, Center Director and Professor of History, University of Utah, at bob.goldberg@utah.edu
From our good friends at the Tanner Humanities Center (University of Utah):
Mormon Studies Fellowship
The first of its kind in the nation, the Tanner Humanities Center’s Mormon Studies fellowship (at the University of Utah) provides a doctoral student funds to spend a year researching the history, beliefs, and culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and its members. This fellowship is open to all dissertation level students of the Mormon Experience from any university in the United States or from around the world. Areas of focus include, but are not limited to: Theology, History, Sociology, Economics, Literature, Philosophy, and Political Science.
This fellowship supports academic scholarship. It seeks to enlighten and educate while grounding understanding in serious research. The fellowship will not disparage or denigrate any religion, organization, people, or group. The fellow must be affiliated with a university and actively enrolled in a Ph.D. Program. A committee, chaired by the Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and composed of scholars and members of the community, informed and sensitive to the needs of Mormon studies, select the fellow annually.
The deadline for the 2016-2017 Mormon Studies fellowship is March 1, 2016
I’ve started a new project that requires me to read the diaries of longtime BYU President Ernest L. Wilkinson. I thought these four excerpts were interesting and funny. Wilkinson worried a lot about keeping up with the University of Utah–keep that in mind.
February 11, 1955
“In the evening attended the basketball game between the U. of U. and the B.Y.U. The paper had all predicted the U. of U. would have a comparatively easy time of it. Stan Watts, however, had devised some special strategy for the game. When the first half ended, the B.Y.U. was 10 points ahead. Near the middle of the second quarter the B.Y.U. was 15 points ahead, and then one of those unusual changes occurred, with the result that, with just four second left to go, the U. of U. made a field goal which tied the score. In the five minutes’ overtime, however, the B.Y.U. scored four points, and the U. of U. two, ending the game with a score of 76 for B.Y.U. and 74 for U. of U. It was a great upset. All admit that the B.Y.U. outplayed the U. We almost lost this game, however, through very poor foul pitching. The B.Y.U. made 56 points of field goals as compared with 44 for the U. of U.”
President [Ray A.] Olpin [the President of the University of Utah] cordially congratulated me after the game, but it was reported from many that he was vigorously complaining about the poor officiating of the officials. Ray does this so often that very few pay attention to him. His own guest at the game whispered to me that “B.Y.U. won fairly notwithstanding what Ray has to say.”
A friendly letter and reminder from the Mormon History Association. Be sure to nominate those who are deserving! Please remember female authors and scholars from underrepresented groups if/when one nominates work. It does not make much time to nominate someone else’s work!]
MHA Logo
Dear members and friends of the Mormon History Association:
It?s that time of year when we?re actively seeking nominations for our annual publication awards. Because submission information is currently unavailable on the MHA website, we felt that this email reminder would be timely and helpful.
Remember that the submission deadline is February 1, 2016 for all works that have a 2015 publication/copyright date. For book awards
We remind authors and presses that books should be submitted directly by the publisher. Five copies of each book to be considered should be sent to the MHA office (note the NEW ADDRESS):
Mormon History Association
175 South 1850 East
Heber City, UT 84032
The Tanner Humanities Center is proud to announce its most recent Mormon Studies initiative. We have begun to raise funds to create a fellowship in the name of Marlin K. Jensen. OurMarlin K. Jensen Scholar and Artist inResidence Program will host prominent scholars with expertise in Mormon Studies or renowned artists who explore the relationship between faith and art in their work.
This week, historians from around the United States will descend upon Atlanta for the annual meeting of the American Historical Association. The American Society of Church History will meet concurrently and happens to feature a number of JI-ers and several papers related to Mormonism. You can view the rest of the schedule here. If you are in Atlanta please let us know; we always look forward to meeting online friends in “real life.”
One more thing: if you are interested in offering a short blog post for JI about one of the sessions, please let us know in the comments!
The Nineteenth-Century American Scriptural Imagination: Three Case Studies Thursday, January 7, 2016: 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, International Ballroom 10
Chair: James Byrd, Vanderbilt University
Papers: Presidential Death and the Bible: 1799, 1865, 1881
Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame
A Rushing Mighty Wind: Tornadic Pentecosts and Apocalypses in Nineteenth-Century America
Peter J. Thuesen, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
The Abraham Mythos and Mormon Marriage, Early and Late
Kathleen Flake, University of Virginia
Comment: Philip Goff, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
The Confluence of Race, Religion, and Society: The Subversive Politics of Racial and Religious Minorities in the Progressive Era Friday, January 8, 2016: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, International Ballroom 1
Chair: Elizabeth Jemison, Clemson University
Papers: Whiteness, Christianity, and Civilization: Western Culture at a Black University, Howard University, 1900-30
Matthew Bowman, Henderson State University
Liquor and Liberty: African American Preachers, Poll Taxes, and Anti-Prohibition in Early Twentieth Century Texas
Brendan Payne, Baylor University
The “Evil of Race Suicide Now Sweeping Like a Blight”: Eugenics and Racialized Religion in the Progressive Era
Joseph Stuart, University of Utah
Comment: Elizabeth Jemison, Clemson University
The Uses of Propaganda in American Religious History: Catholicism, Mormonism, Protestantism Friday, January 8, 2016: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, International Ballroom 1
Chair: Seth Perry, Princeton University
Papers: “So Many Foolish Virgins”: True Womanhood, Nuns, and Propaganda in Antebellum America
Cassandra Leigh Yacovazzi, University of Missouri-Columbia
Religious Outsiders and the Catholic Critique of Protestantism in America
Bradley Kime, University of Virginia
Part Serendipity, Part Strategy: The Public Image Boost of the 1936 Mormon Welfare Plan as an Exception to America’s “Religious Depression”
J. B. Haws, Brigham Young University
Historians have awaited the release of Journals, Volume 3: May 1843-June 1844 (hereafter J3) for many reasons. Joseph Smith’s last months were “turbulent and productive,” mired with controversy, well-known sermons, an expansion of temple liturgy, the beginnings of plural marriage, and Smith’s candidacy for President of the United States. Smith wore many hats in these years, including mayor, judge, and militia leader in addition to his religious roles as president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite the proliferation of documents that chronicle this time period, there are still many questions that arise from the study of the lats thirteen months of Joseph Smith’s life that have not been answered (or answered satisfactorily). J3, the final volume of the Journals series, will help historians answer new questions and expand upon older questions in Mormon and American Religious History.
The Tanner Humanities Center has made the videos for the Black, White, and Mormon Conference available. The conference, held at the University of Utah on October 8-9, 2015, was an incredible experience for me as a participant. I would love to see more opportunities, funding, and venues dedicated to this type of public engagement.
The McMurrin Lecture by Lester Bush:
A Commemoration for Those Who Have Died
Race and the Inner City
Race and Mormon Women
Race and the International Church
Race and Brigham Young University
Race at the Ward Level
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO THE EVENT’S CO-SPONSORS
George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation | Greg Prince | Jess Hurtado | Smith-Pettit Foundation | Anonymous | DESB Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative (Utah) | Charles Redd Center (BYU) | College of Humanities (BYU) | Laurel Thatcher-Ulrich | Utah Valley University | Department of History (Utah) | University of Utah Press
We are thrilled to share this press release from the Mormon History Association. Please join us in congratulating Jessie Embry, whom many of JI’s perma-bloggers have worked with, taken classes from, or otherwise interacted with through the Charles Redd Center, on her appointment as the new editor of the Journal of Mormon History!
Embry recently retired as the Associate Director of the Redd Center for Western History at Brigham Young University. She is the author or editor of twenty-one books, mostly in Mormon and western history. Among them are Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle, published by the University of Utah Press, in 1987 and reissused by Greg Kofford Books in 2009. Most recently she completed Immigrants in the Far West: Historical Identities and Experiences, coedited with Brian Q. Cannon and published by the University of Utah Press.
Embry has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to recovering grassroots non-institutional voices and experiences, including extensive experience in oral history. She believes strongly in comparative history and placing historical events in a larger context. She desires making connections with wide-ranging conversations that will enrich both Mormon history and broader fields of historical inquiry.
Mark Staker on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny was always generous in sharing her knowledge. She was not only an exceptional educator (who also taught her colleagues along the way), but she…”
Kathy Cardon on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I worked in the Church's Historical department when Jenny was in the Museum. I always enjoyed our interactions. Reading this article has been a real…”
Don Tate on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Very well done and richly deserved! I am most proud of Jenny and how far she has come with her life, her scholarship, and her…”
Recent Comments
Mark Staker on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny was always generous in sharing her knowledge. She was not only an exceptional educator (who also taught her colleagues along the way), but she…”
Gary Bergera on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny's great. Thanks for posting this.”
Kathy Cardon on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I worked in the Church's Historical department when Jenny was in the Museum. I always enjoyed our interactions. Reading this article has been a real…”
Don Tate on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Very well done and richly deserved! I am most proud of Jenny and how far she has come with her life, her scholarship, and her…”
Ben P on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “My favorite former boss and respected current historian!”
Hannah J on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I really enjoyed this! Going to be thinking about playing the long game for a while. Thanks Amy and Jenny.”